I hope all Aussie TORnsibs are ok! The fires raging thru Tasmania, Victoria, and NSW are scaring me! Also wondering if the fire season in NZ has been a bad one this summer. Have the temps in NZ also been extraordinarily high also? I have no relatives or friends in the affected areas just concern!

with high temps and fires is nowhere near what Oz is going through. Have a look at this story where Australia's weather bureau has had to include new colours on its heat chart to accommodate the unheard-of temperatures. NZ has had heat spikes in areas that don't usually get them, such as the bottom of the South Island and on the North Island's west coast, but nothing like the 40+ degrees in Australia.

We had a few scrub fires around Otago over New Year, which were wee candle-flames compared to the bushfires in Tasmania and mainland Australia. Unfortunately Australia's heatwave is due to continue through the weekend. I really hope the winds stay away and give firefighters a chance to gain control. Celebrimbor: "Pretty rings..." Dwarves: "Pretty rings..." Men: "Pretty rings..." Sauron: "Mine's better."

"Ah, how ironic, the addictive qualities of Sauronís master weapon led to its own destruction. Which just goes to show, kids - if you want two small and noble souls to succeed on a mission of dire importance... send an evil-minded beggar with them too." - Gandalf's Diaries, final par, by Ufthak.

It is scary! I remember my Primary School Teacher telling my class after a student had asked a question about the heat and the change in the sunlight and she replied that it had to do with the bush fires in Australia. This was so long ago and everytime a bush fire occurs in Australia her words always come back to me.

Anyway There was one phenomena I remember seeing not too long ago during the bush fires in Australia how the heat and the smoke turned the sun blood red an incredible sight.

Lord God in Heaven send rain upon Australia to relieve this country in their hour of need. To give respite to their volunteers, fire brigades, civil defence and people.

I'll be doing a (mental) rain dance for that heat-stricken continent... ('mental' because neither my back nor my downstairs neighbour would permit my actually skipping about, especially as it is almost midnight here), and praying for a deluge to stop all the fires. It feels like it was only yesterday when our American TORnsibs wrote about their forest fires for several weeks last summer.... 'Goodness gracious, you really are a messie!' 'Oh no, I'm not, these are all just mathoms...'

I hope there is some respite soon for all those suffering in the various areas of the countries affected. Homes gone, lives threatened - so much loss of habitat, livestock and wildlife, too, on such a scale. It's very sad.

I'll start doing it again. I was noticing at the folk dance last Tuesday that I still have ashes on my sneakers. And the fire's still burning under the snow here.

I'm so sorry our Australian friends are going through this. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories

was 48 celsius, but that was in Death Valley. 40 is about the hottest it ever gets here, and only rarely. It is indeed miserable. Imagine being a firefighter with all that gear working in that kind of heat. :-( ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories

on a number of fires. The worst one has seen the loss of four homes. One belonged to an elderly couple who have lost everything, and have no insurance. Another woman who has lost everything was also uninsured. This has been a common problem for people since the earthquakes. At one stage my home and contents were uninsured, after my then insurance company went under and pulled out completely, leaving all their clients high and dry. I was petrified of another big earthquake or a fire, knowing I wouldn't be covered.

I am so sick of this hot weather. Wednesday night was possibly our hottest on record, with the temperature never going below about 25 all night. I'm just lucky I don't have to go to work at the moment.

The firefighters here have had to contend with snow and ice, which just sounds surreal.

Those hot nights sound miserable. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories

It's just not fair, after all the problems with the earthquake :-( ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories

Just read the article your link led to --- what is a 'lifestyle block'? That has me puzzled
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Can't Post

I had no idea it could get so hot at night on the South Island! 25 degrees centigrade at night, that is miserable indeed --- that's what we get in Stuttgart in very hot weather, too, and then I can only sleep with a fan running all night. Me, I don't like heat either, so I quite feel for you.

If this building burnt down, I'd be in trouble, too, since I'd lose all my (alas, uninsured) possessions. It's been quite a worry over the years but for some reason I never get around to even making inquiries into insurance premiums, especially now that I'm not working anymore and my savings are slowly (or not so slowly) eroding. I suppose I unconsciously believe that if this building (where I rent a flat) goes up, I'll go up with it as I'm on the fourth floor and we've got old gas pipes throughout the building, and wooden floors and staircase... ugh. My first year here I didn't sleep well at night for fear of fires, and even now I worry whenever I smell something 'suspicious' --- and still I procrastinate. Very bad, I know....

Doesn't it make you feel cheated --- paying all those insurance premiums for years and years, and then the company goes under and that's it? Good thing you found a new one and are 'safe' again --- let's hope you'll never need it!

is normally a small block of land between about 5-20 acres. The Canterbury area has traditionally been based around mixed cropping and sheep and beef farming, with a few dairy farms. This has changed massively over the last 20 or so years, with dairying slowly but surely marching its way across the plains (and that is another whole story on its own), and many farms being broken up into lifestyle blocks. Some people buy lifestyle blocks and come to grief, because they have no idea of the realities of country living, and some lifestylers clash with farmers. There are lots of examples of lifestylers complaining about the noise of animals, for example!

There are also plenty of lifestylers who make a living from their small block, for example breeding animals, or growing vegetables, fruit or specialised items such as flowers or olives etc.

The insurance situation in Christchurch and Canterbury is very bad. A lot of the hold ups with repairs and rebuilding are really down to the insurance companies dragging their feet. Premiums are shooting up all over NZ and will continue to do so I'm sure. But that is another story again...

As a renter, I would urge you to get contents insurance. Imagine starting again with absolutely nothing.